Everything must eventually come to an end. This week we talk about the transient nature of friendships as an expat in China, how people deal with this, and how they approach new relationships. Hannah and Toni are joined by friend and producer Averill, whose departure from Shanghai coincides with the end of this season. We’re sad to see you go, Averill, but we wish you the best of luck with the future! We’ll miss you for sure.

This episode is dedicated to all our friends, new and old, here and back home. Thank you so much for all you have shared with us. Thanks also to every one of our wonderful interviewees for your time and for your golden nuggets of stories. And lastly, thank you to all our faithful listeners for your continued support and positive feedback. Looking for Laowai would not exist without you all!

This week, we’re looking at escaping the expat bubble. We hear the stories of people who have tried hard to integrate and make Chinese friends, the challenges they’ve faced, and the rewards they’ve worked hard to achieve.

LivAway Cultural Exchange
LivAwayers are a batch of warm-hearted local Chinese and Expats with an international background.
We organize intercultural exchange events on a weekly basis. By working on a specific task shoulder to shoulder, we would like to build real friendships and connections between expats and locals.

This week, Toni also joins Jed and Marshall on the Millennial Nostalgia Berries Podcast to discuss Mulan and other Disney films.
Millennial Nostalgia Berries Podcast is another Shanghai-based podcast, created, produced, and hosted by expats. It is a podcast about American popular culture from the 80s, 90s and early 00s.
Check it out here.

We’re back after an extended (and flu-y break)! This is part one of a two-part episode on the laowai bubble, or the expat bubble and escaping this bubble. We’ll be looking at the language barrier, something called homophily, differences in socializing, and whether we should break out of the bubble.

Have you heard of the A4 challenge? What are female bodies supposed to look like in China, and what happens when you don’t fit that cultural ideal?

This week, we’re talking about body image in China, and how Chinese beauty standards affect locals and foreigners alike. We focus on female bodies and hear multiple women’s experiences navigating what their bodies look like and how their bodies are perceived and talked about. We explore how the Chinese approach of being direct about body talk impacts people in different ways.

We sat down with expats in China who had just got off the plane, those who had been living in China for a few years, and those who have been here for over a decade, and asked them about their experiences and how they have changed over time.

We’re collaborating with Ladyfest Shanghai on our sixth episode, Foreign Bodies in China, and we’re looking for your stories! Email us at lookingforlaowai@gmail.com with your story in written format or in a voice recording to be featured on the episode.

We’ve already touched upon multiple experiences being a foreigner in China, but what about when you look Chinese but aren’t really Chinese? We’re exploring what it means to be foreign and of Chinese descent. This week’s episode is a personally very meaningful one to us — most of us at Looking for Laowai are Chinese heritage expats. In this episode, Hannah and Toni are joined by Ali, producer, and Christine, correspondent and translator, as they discuss how they and other Chinese heritage expats navigate fluid identities and spaces. We touch upon the term huayi (someone of ethnic Chinese origin, born and/or raised outside of China) in relation to laowai (foreigner), the Chinese bloodline, and what “normative privilege” means.

Let’s face it, the dating scene in Shanghai is a pretty loaded subject. With so many aspects of dating to explore, we’re narrowing in on a specific but widely seen phenomenon. How often do you see a foreign man with a Chinese woman versus a Chinese man with a foreign woman? We explore the dynamics between foreigners and locals, focusing on how gender roles and cultural expectations impact dating choices.

Thanks so much to everyone who came on Sunday, October 22 to the Shanghai Soup x Ladyfest Shanghai community funding event to support us!
A massive congratulations to Feminist Joy (我们与平权) for her well-deserved win – you should all check her out on WeChat: stories_of_hers and her Weibo! We’re really happy she won and hope we can collaborate with her in the future.
We’re also totally thrilled to have come second place and grateful for the runner-up prize from Ladyfest Shanghai!
If you haven’t already listened to the podcast, please check out the first two episodes and continue to spread the word!
Thanks again!